Spoiled | Falsettos AU

Chapter Four

Mendel

After an half an hour of being left waiting and Marvin clearly doing nothing with that time, I stop waiting for Charlotte to invite me into the throne room and instead stride in myself. Marvin looks a little taken aback, but doesn't stop me, so I push my nerves aside to the best of my ability and pretend to be more confident than I actually am.

"We need to talk."
"About Jason, I know." He says, waving a hand dismissively. Somehow, momentarily, my perception of him seems to shift, and I catch a glimpse of him as a king rather than a man, on his throne, dismissing the lowly tutor as soon as he enters. And I truly understand why Trina wants to leave so desperately.

"I'll talk to him, okay?" Marvin sighs.
"It's not about Jason." I say. "Though he did skip music last..." I shake my head in an attempt to clear my mind of distractions. "No, Jason was just an excuse to talk to you about what I actually need to say." At that, Marvin looks slightly interested. "Trina and I are getting married."

There's a long silence. I expected shouting, or the throwing of stuff, Maybe instant banishing. This is somehow worse.

When he finally speaks, his voice is cold and deliberate.
"I see."
"She proposed to me, and I said yes. She wants to divorce you and marry me soon, and move to the village. The nicer part."
"She wants to leave?" I swear his eye twitches.

Hesitantly, I nod. "No." Marvin deadpans. "She can't do that. It would ruin the royal image!"
"Well she insists-"
"So close to a ball? Jason's first betrothal ball, his first chance to meet a future spouse? Is she crazy?" His voice is growing louder now.
"He can still attend the ball!" I reason.
"Well of course he can, since he'll be staying here, but Trina and I divorcing will be a scandal! It'll be the talking-"

"Jason won't be staying at the palace." I interject. From the expression on Marvin's face, I realise my mistake. "My apologies, Your Highness, I didn't mean to-"
"What do you mean he won't be staying at the palace?" His voice is dangerously low.

"Oh. Uh, well, Trina wants Jason to stay with her. He can visit you on weekends."
"No, Jason is going to boarding school right after the ball."
"Trina doesn't want him to."
"Trina doesn't get to decide." Marvin snaps.

"She's his mother!" I implore him. Marvin scoffs.
"So? He was raised by nannies as much as he was by her. Besides, he's almost a man now, and it's our family's tradition. It's where he will properly learn how to rule."
"But she wants him to-"

"Trina doesn't get to make decisions for the future king!" Marvin shouts. "She's just the unwanted daughter of a forgotten king! What does she know about ruling?"
"Trina isn't just anything!" I argue back.
"Oh, yes she is! Admit it, Mendel, she's plain! She's nothing more than-"

The glass sculptor shatters less than a foot to the left of his head. My eyes widen and I stagger backwards, apologies spilling from my lips as Marvin stands and approaches me slowly.

I expect him to strike me down instantly, and maybe he plans to do so, but then Trina enters the room, and he halts, forgetting me in favour of her.
"You plan to divorce me." He states hollowly. Consumed by fear, I don't take my eyes off Marvin, but I imagine she nods. She steps up beside me and asks my hand.

Her head is bowed in submission, but her voice is unwavering as she speaks.
"I'm done being a complicit little decoration." She raises her head, and I can see the fire burning behind her eyes. "I'm going to state what I want, and you'll allow it. No buts."

Marvin opens his mouth to challenge her, but she cuts him off. "I'm divorcing you. I'm marrying Mendel. Jason can alternate who he stays with weekly."
"No, he needs to go to-"
"Teach him yourself, Marvin." She snaps. "You have more real-life experience than those teachers anyway, and it's not as if he hasn't been learning form example all this time anyway."

It looks as if the argument is going to continue, but at that moment Charlotte enters, looking panicked. She surveys the area, taking the broke glass and put expressions: Marvin's anger, Trina's defiance, and my terror.

Her eyes flicker back and forth, then she sighs. She looks more resigned that surprised, folding her arms and looking at Marvin like this is his fault.
"What happened?"

She's got to be the only person in the kingdom who can treat Marvin like a civilian and not he punished. I, meanwhile, am still sure that Marvin is going to bring back the death penalty for me specially.